Fassbender was the first to decamp, followed by Ramsey, who left the project in dramatic fashion on the eve of production. Producer Scott Steindorff then enlisted Gavin O'Connor (Miracle) to step in at the eleventh hour to helm. Law quit shortly after Ramsey exited.

Cooper was set to play the leader of a gang that comes to kill the husband (played by Noah Emmerich) of Portman's character. Joel Edgerton also co-stars.

Cooper's exit hasn't affected the shoot yet because it's currently in a planned shutdown phase. That's something the filmmakers set up when O'Connor took over-- he couldn't take on the project cold, so even as they began shooting immediately, they restructured the schedule, putting in this timeframe, which would allow them to breathe and catch up. Cooper's part was always scheduled to shoot in the latter half of production.

"Regretfully, due to date conflicts between the film I am currently shooting for David O’Russell [American Hustle] and Jane’s Got a Gun, I am unable to join Natalie, Joel, Noah and Gavin on this truly exciting project," Cooper told The Hollywood Reporter. "I was really looking forward to being a part of it and hope to work with each and every one in the future.”

Sources say the production went out to Jake Gyllenhaal, but that did not pan out.

But it is another hurdle in the ongoing saga of the making of this indie Western. As one put it, "The script about the making of Jane Got a Gun could be more interesting than the movie itself."